Life is full of choices, but if you’d rather not test your own crash‑worthiness, ANCAP has dropped its 2025 safety superstars, and it’s quite the lineup of overachievers.
Each year ANCAP crunches the numbers across four big-ticket safety pillars (Adult Protection, Child Protection, Vulnerable Road Users and Safety Assist) to crown the cars most likely to save your bacon. And this year’s champs prove that proper safety isn’t just a box‑ticking exercise, but a full-on “safety is life” vibe.
Leading the charge (again) is the Tesla Model Y, which apparently treats crash tests like a competitive sport, scoring the highest overall weighted result of any vehicle tested in 2025, its second time topping the charts after its 2022 win. Consider it the returning champ that refuses to skip leg day.
Meanwhile, in ute-land (a battleground of torque, testosterone and tray space) the Toyota Hilux has muscled its way to the top as 2025’s safest utility vehicle, proving you can haul gear and keep your limbs intact.
ANCAP’s CEO Carla Hoorweg says the real secret sauce is designing cars where safety works as a “system, not a checklist,” meaning the winners didn’t just ace one test, they went full honour‑roll across crash protection, crash avoidance and keeping pedestrians un-squashed.
There’s also growing harmony between ANCAP’s expectations and what really matters on Aussie and Kiwi roads, like autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring that politely tells you to stop driving like a plonker.
In short? There’s now a solid crop of genuinely safe vehicles across every segment, giving buyers plenty of options if they want a car that protects both their family and their pride.
With crash tests spanning everything from 50 km/h frontal offsets to 60 km/h side smacks and 32 km/h pole encounters, models like the Tesla Model 3, Volvo EX90, IM 5, MG S5 EV, Mini Cooper E and the Hilux have all strutted through ANCAP’s crash lab like stunt doubles who refuse to flinch.
So yes, “Choose safety” sounds like a polite slogan… but after seeing what these cars go through, it’s starting to feel more like solid life advice.
